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Mexican vigilantes take Paracuaro town from ‘Knights Templar’ gang

Vigilantes stormed into the Mexican town of Paracuaro and took it from the drug gang calling itself Knights Templar. Local police were not spared either in the incident. Police are accused of colluding with the gangs and failing to protect citizens. The drugcartels have vast monetary resources which are often used to bribepolice, both local and federal, into working with the cartels. Police refusing to cooperate often meet their deaths at the hands of the cartel in very violent methods.

Members of the vigilante groups that united to liberate Paracuaro town from the ‘Templar’ gang.

The tide seems to be now turning against the drugcartels as concerned citizens who are tired of the bloodshed and the violence brought about to their neighborhoods by the cartels take up arms and rid their communities of the evil. Vigilantes drove into the town of Paracuaro in blacked out vehicles and routed the gang out. One person is reported to have died in the altercation as several gun battles ensued.

A bus set ablaze of the highway leading to Paracuaro. The ‘Templar’ gang fought in vain to hold onto the town in the face of vigilante action.

More than 600 members of the self-defense groups were involved in the operation. Paracuaro is the capital of the drugcartel ‘Knights Templar’. The cartel is reported to have paralyzed transport in the town by setting a bus ablaze on the highway leading into Paracuaro during the fight for the town. Vigilantes used armored cars to storm into the town and assured the residents that they were not gang members. Once the locals were convinced that the vigilantes meant no harm, the vigilantes then embarked on expelling the ‘Templar’ gang members from the town.

Police being placed under arrest by the vigilante groups and surrendering their arms.

With cartel fighters driven out of the town, the vigilantes then turned to the local state police. They made the police surrender their weapons since they are suspected of colluding with the Templarcartel in its operations. A checkpoint was set up too on the road leading into Paracuaro to enhance the new-found security of the town.

In Mexico, the police have failed to curtail the activities of drugcartels that have their own fighting gangs and this has led to a rise in the number of vigilante groups made up of local residents who come together to protect themselves. The vigilante (Guerrero) system is quickly catching up and removing gangs from neighborhoods. As the operation in Paracuaro was taking place, another vigilante group in another nearby town was marching in commemoration of one year of existence.